Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Capitol Hill Full of Action, No Word on Progress; Treasury Deciding on Who Will and Who Won't Get Paid; Phoenix Family Charged in 10-Year-Old Girl's Death; Fewer Than One-Quarter of All Students Are Proficient in American History

Aired July 30, 2011 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We are at the top of the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you so much for being here.

And no, we have not made a deal in Washington. This debt ceiling debate goes on and Congress is in session today. We are expecting a lot of action up on Capitol Hill. Action yes, progress, don't know about that yet. Let me tell you what's on tap this morning.

The House starts debate at noon, with the likely vote on a proposal from Senate majority leader Harry Reid. That's sometime after 1:00. It's also expected that's not going to pass.

That goes to the Senate side then, they'll kick off debate at the same time on that same proposal around 1:00 Eastern Time. That debate could last, though, about 12 hours, so it could be 1:00 in the morning Eastern Time before they ever get to any kind of a vote there.

The president has been chiming in a lot over the past couple of weeks. He chimed in once again this morning in his weekend White House address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The power to solve this is in our hands. All that's needed is a simple vote that Democrats and Republicans have taken for decades including all of the leaders in Congress today. It was done 18 times under President Reagan, seven times under George W. Bush, and it must be done again now. It's not a vote that allows Congress to spend more money. Raising the debt ceiling simply gives our country the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already racked up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. The Republicans certainly had a response to the president this morning. They delivered their address. Arizona Senator Jon Kyl had the honor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: President Obama is simply too committed to the European style of big government, that his policies have set in motion. To Democrats in Washington, the answer isn't to cut spending but to raise taxes and keep on spending. Republicans believe we must solve our debt crisis, and we believe we can solve it if Democrats will work with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. We've got a couple competing plans out there. House Speaker John Boehner for the Republicans had a plan, also the Senate majority leader Harry Reid for the Democrats have a plan as well. Boehner's plan actually passed the House yesterday but at the Senate it was "DOA," over in the Senate. Today we'll see what Reid's plan can do.

Joe Johns joins me now from Washington.

Joe, does Harry Reid's plan, is it expected to have any life in the House?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, this is big-time wrestling, T.J. Democrats and Reid are going to need help. They're apparently going to need 60 votes and there aren't 60 Democrats in the Senate. I say apparently because anything can change over there.

Typically, though, in a situation like this, the Senate - the majority party has to reach out to persuadable senators on the other side. The idea being to fashion a compromise that can pass. The question is whether the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell will give his blessing to that.

Now he has said the White House needs to be involved in any negotiations. So Democrats are putting pressure on McConnell or at least trying to. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: It's up to the Senate and that means it's up to Senator McConnell to either negotiate himself or give permission to others to negotiate so that we can finally come to a bipartisan agreement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Meanwhile, the Senate, as you said, T.J., has already rejected the plan passed by the House. Republican speaker John Boehner talked about what is in it just last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: What this bill now says is that before the president can request an additional increase in the debt limit, two things have to happen. A joint committee of the Congress must produce a spending cuts larger than the increase in the debt limit and both Houses of the Congress must send to the states a balanced budget amendment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So, T.J., this is sort of like two trains passing in the night or is it ships passing in the night.

HOLMES: I think it's ships.

JOHNS: Yes, they need to get on the same page. Mixing my metaphors, I'm sorry.

HOLMES: It doesn't matter this morning, man. Help us understand at all, though, did we get any progress actually done even though we knew when the House voted if they approved it, it was dead on arrival in the Senate, but still did it help us at least get kind of a benchmark? I guess what I'm trying to get at - try to tell our viewers, was any progress made yesterday?

JOHNS: Well, yes, I mean you got a vehicle, at least, right. You got a framework that the House sends over to the Senate and you also really learned just what John Boehner's up against and it tells the Senate what he can actually pass. So, there's a little bit of progress in the margins, but it's not substantive and as we all know, the big deal here is the timeline. The timeline is very short, and you don't have much time to dink around, as it were.

HOLMES: All right. Joe Johns, we appreciate you this morning. We'll see you again here shortly, I'm sure. All right.

In about five minutes past the hour, to our viewers, this debt crisis has a lot of people worried, yes here in the U.S., people who are depending on their Social Security checks don't know it if those will go out after August 2nd.

Also, the military don't know if they will actually get paid. Members of our military are on the fence right now, don't know if they will get paid because of the debt crisis in Washington. Yes, those are the worries here. But people around the world have concerns as well.

Our Jonathan Mann reporting for us. There's a big concern about what is and what is not going on in D.C.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While the debt ceiling debate drags on in Washington, much of the rest of the world watches with growing concern.

CHRISTINE LAGARDE, IMF MANAGING DIRECTOR: I am worried because this debt ceiling issue has not been cracked.

MANN: And it's not just the head of the International Monetary Fund. People on the streets of Beijing are aware the U.S. debt affects China's economy too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The crisis is not only limited in the U.S., but also in Europe. We cannot say the U.S. is not powerful now as a big U.S. debt holder China will for sure be affected.

MANN: And in Australia, too.

TONY MORRIS, ANZ INVESTMENT BANK: It makes it much more expensive for tourists to visit Australia. So those parts of our economy exposed to the tourist sector, we've spent a lot of money promoting Australia overseas, are not going to benefit so greatly from that.

MANN: In Tokyo some economic experts see history repeating itself. They compared the current U.S. debt crisis to Japan's crippling recession of the 1990s.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's exact replay of what we went through in Japan 10, 15 years ago.

MANN: However the debate plays out in Washington, experts say the financial ripples will be felt around the world.

LAGARDE: It's an issue that really is lurking in the background of each and every economy of the world.

MANN: Jonathan Mann, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Seven minutes past the hour. The politics of a deadline deal, anybody going to come out of this looking good? Does it matter at this point? Well, Maria Cardona and Lenny McAllister always looking good. We'll see if they sound good here in just a few moments. Friends of our show here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. They will join us here in just a moment.

But first, do you know when the first debt limit was set in the United Sates? Actually Lenny and Maria, do you have the answer? You think about it too. Was it back in 1854? Was it 1899? Or was it 1917? The year of the first debt ceiling - the first year that it was set. The answer for you after the break along with Lenny and Maria. It's seven minutes past the hour on this "CNN Saturday Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, 11 minutes past the hour.

Before the break we asked you when the first debt limit was set in the U.S. Was it 1854 or 1899 or 1917? Well, congratulations to you folks who picked 1917. It was the debt limit, you know what it was back then? $11.5 billion. It's now $14.3 trillion. 11.5 billion won't even get us through the day probably, probably the next 30 minutes here in this country.

Now we've been saying this for months, the clock is ticking on default. It continues to tick. The government could start defaulting on loans as early as Tuesday if the debt ceiling deal is not reached. So let me bring in Democratic strategist Maria Cardona in Washington and Republican strategist Lenny McAllister, in Chicago, friends of our show, here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Good to see you both. I have said for a while they're crazy but they're not this crazy.

All right. OK. Go through what you have to do, do your fighting, but I didn't think we would get this close.

Maria, did you?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I actually did have an inkling that we would get this close, T.J., and for the following reason - and I've been saying this for a very long time on your show - when the Tea Partiers got elected I knew and a lot of people knew that the GOP was going to have an issue with trying to both ensure that they were in line with the Tea Party folks as well as making sure that they were seen as reasonable. And sometimes those two things are not in the same category. That's what we're seeing play out right now, where you saw John Boehner in the last two days having to cow tow to his Tea Party caucus, adding a balanced budget amendment at the very last minute for his plan that was already dead on arrival in the Senate. Well, I did have an inkling that this was going to get - that this was going to get to this place.

HOLMES: Well, Maria it sounds like and Lenny, you tell me if it sounds the same to you, that is putting this squarely on the Tea Party folks up in Washington, D.C., now is that fair and if those folks weren't there, would a deal have been done weeks, months ago?

LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, the Tea Party folks at least brought the spending issue to the table, but if the Tea Party folks are inflexible, the Democrats have been flat out lazy because they haven't put a budget on the table for the last several years. This is something they could have addressed while they had a super majority, while they had the huge majority in the House of Representatives. They went after Obama care. They abdicated their responsibility to the American people when they had a chance to deal with this previously.

Now you had these Tea Party activists that came to Washington on the backs of the Democrats' laziness in dealing with this. So now they're the other extreme. Somewhere in the middle, we have to get America back on track. It may not be with the extremism of some of the Tea Party activists and I say some, just as much as it's not going to be with the extreme of some on the other side of the aisle.

HOLMES: Well, Lenny, it sounds like they're - and you have been - I mean, I don't know the right thing to call, a Tea Partier or the correct way to say it. I know you spoke at some rallies and you've done some work with them. But it sounds like - to you, you're saying as well, you can't be inflexible. You have to be willing to give. Do you see that the Tea Party in your opinion is not giving at all and that's the holdup?

MCALLISTER: There are some that are not giving. I'm not going to say everybody in that caucus, but there are definitely some that have been inflexible. The bottom line is we didn't get here overnight and we're going to have to progress pass and through this. There were some that said that the Republicans had a big win. They should have taken advantage of it this time last week and got us past this crisis.

HOLMES: Well, Maria, that some he may speak of, some could be one, two, three or four or five but those some seem pretty powerful right now.

CARDONA: Well, that's exactly the point, T.J., and I wrote a piece on cnn.com about this, it's called "The Tyranny of '87," which is when you put that much power in the hands of a very small group of people, especially people who have never governed before, have no interest in compromising and are so inflexible and it's either their way or the highway, the American people at the end of the day are the ones who are going to get hurt.

Because a couple of things may happen, and if we go into default or if our credit rating is lowered to AA, which the Tea Partiers don't think is a big deal, there will be a huge tax increase on every single American in this country in the way of increased interest rates. So for a group of people who are just adamantly against tax increases, this is not something that they understand and that is something that the GOP is going to continue to have a problem with.

HOLMES: All right. Well, Lenny and Maria, I'm going to have you all back, be with me next hour. Appreciate you all starting to join us a little earlier here on "CNN Saturday Morning" because there is so much going on in D.C. But Lenny McAllister and Maria Cardona, Maria, I will send out, I will send a tweet out and Facebook out your article, "The Tyranny of '87" and let everybody get a good read at that.

CARDONA: Thank you.

HOLMES: But I'll see you guys here in the next hour.

CARDONA: Thank you.

MCALLISTER: Thank you, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Tomorrow night a CNN special on this debt crisis, what will it take to find a solution? Our Wolf Blitzer and Don Lemon looking for a solution. They're breaking down some of the hurdles and options called "GET IT DONE: COUNTDOWN TO DEBT CRISIS." This is on Sunday night 9:00 Eastern Time right here on CNN.

It's 16 minutes past the hour. We will be joined by Reynolds Wolf here in just a moment as we take a beautiful look at Atlanta, Georgia. We'll see if the south is going to see temperatures in the 90s again, but it's hot Atlanta, of course we will.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 19 minutes past the hour on this "CNN SATURDAY MORNING." Look at some of the stories our affiliates are covering for you. We'll start in Phoenix, where four members of the same family have been charged in the death of a 10-year-old girl. Ame Deal's body was found locked in a box outside the family's home on July the 12th; she had suffocated. The family told police she died in the box while playing hide and seek. The arrest came after police discovered the family routinely locked her in the box as a form of punishment.

Let me quickly get to another story right now. And I have got to taste this lemonade because it's apparently worth $10,000 a cup. But actually what happened here, a Kansas businessman had some pretty deep pockets. This is over in Wichita, he paid $10,000 for a glass of lemonade.

Now why would he do this? They were actually raising money for tornado relief in Joplin, Missouri, with their lemonade stand and he hooked them up with that. So far these kids have raised some $13,000. So a little vodka in that lemonade, that's good stuff.

Let's it turn to Michigan now. All right. You heard about this one, Reynolds. That's a big catfish is what you're saying there.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good gosh. (INAUDIBLE). That's a monster.

HOLMES: This took a minute but to reel this one in, half hour, he said to reel in this catfish. He plans to have it officially measured and weighed to see if it breaks any records.

WOLF: That's obscene.

HOLMES: It is.

WOLF: What were you saying about a lemonade mixed with some kind of adult beverage?

HOLMES: Yes.

WOLF: After seeing one of those, that maybe, you know, one of the next moves. That's a huge fish.

HOLMES: A huge fish.

WOLF: What does a thing like that eat? My goodness.

HOLMES: I don't know. They all cut up and fry the same. It doesn't matter what size they are.

WOLF: I guess so. We've got about one minute left. I'm going to hop over and just get right to the weather.

One of the big stories we had, of course, is tropical depression Don which unfortunately got fizzled out. It brought a little bit of rainfall to south Texas but in terms of the drought breaking rainfall they were hoping for, it just didn't happen. But there is the possibility, we might see more development back into the Atlantic. We're watching this area which has the National Hurricane Center tells us has about a 70 percent possibility of becoming a named storm. If it is a named storm the name will be Emily. So try that one on for size.

Meanwhile the rest of your forecast is plain and simple, one of the topics we've had over the last couple of weeks has been the heat. Today will be no exception. Central plains, hazy, hot, humid, it should feel like it's into the 100s with the high humidity and of course, just the warm temperatures. Northern plains may deal with some storms later on today. As you wrap things up, your highs, Kansas City, outside Kauffman City, 91 degrees, 88 in Chicago, 87 in Memphis. 101 in Dallas (INAUDIBLE), 93 in Tampa. 90 degrees in New York, 96 in Washington. Out west we go, San Francisco with 70 and Los Angeles with 71. That's a quick snapshot on your forecast. T.J., let's pitch it back to you.

HOLMES: You're pretty good with American history?

WOLF: Pretty good.

HOLMES: I mean surely you know what Abraham Lincoln is famous for, right?

WOLF: Absolutely, yes.

HOLMES: Would you believe a lot of people don't and an alarming number of students in this country cannot tell you what Abraham Lincoln is famous for. Why exactly are we failing history? A closer look in 90 seconds. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, 24 minutes past the hour.

We've got good news on the education front. Test scores in history classes are actually up nationwide, but that's just the good news.

Jacob Soboroff has the rest of this story in this week's edition of "Education Overtime."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACOB SOBOROFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most of you know who this person is, but can you name two reasons he's important to American history? If $not, you're in good company.

A recent study called "The Nation's Report Card" says fewer than a quarter of all students are proficient or show a solid academic performance in American history. Shockingly, while most quiz could identify a photo of Abraham Lincoln, hardly any could say why he was an important president.

(on camera): If there was anywhere they could answer the question, it would be right here at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Can you tell me who this president is right here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abe Lincoln.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abraham Lincoln.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lincoln.

SOBOROFF: First name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lincoln.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Abraham Lincoln.

SOBOROFF: And tell me, why was Lincoln an important president?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because he was honest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did very important speeches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know this.

SOBOROFF (voice-over): Both the study and my field trip made it clear that kids aren't learning history. Why that's the case and how to fix it is up for debate. Possibilities include apathetic students, how history is tested and the No Child Left Behind Act squeezing history out of the classroom in favor of math and reading. When I went to see the guy in charge of the Nation's Report Card he told me poor history scores are actually nothing new.

JACK BUCKLER, NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS: There's a core of kids who are outstanding. There's another small percent that our policymakers would call proficient. And then there's a big chunk of kids who are, you know, below that line. And that's not changed much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just going through a pile.

SOBOROFF: In Massachusetts, Will Fitzhugh publishes a journal highlighting the work of the core group of history gifted students and he thinks the history scores are troubling.

WILL FITZHUGH, FOUNDER "THE CONCORD REVIEW": It's an old story. Nobody's doing anything to fix it.

SOBOROFF: I tracked down some of the bright young minds Fitzhugh spotlights to ask what advice they would give to a struggling history student.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They really should try to find the fun.

TIANAHAO HE, HISTORY STUDENT: When it comes down to it history is about people and people like us who shaped the course of this nation's history.

SOBOROFF: Maybe he's right. One option might be to keep reminding students that history is just that. All about people just like them.

For "Education Overtime" I'm Jacob Soboroff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Do you think you would do well on that history test? You can check it out, it's on our Web site, cnn.com. You'll be able to see it there. We got some sample test questions up there for you. You check it out. Getting close to the bottom of the hour. A quick check of the day's headlines, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. It's just three days left just under three days to raise the nation's current debt ceiling or we're going to have a problem. The House starts debate at noon Eastern on a proposal from Senate majority leader Harry Reid. A vote on that is expected sometime after 1:00 Eastern but it's not expected to pass. Actually, meanwhile, the Senate begins debate on Reid's plan at 1:00 Eastern.

Also over in Italy American Amanda Knox who is serving a 26-year sentence for murdering her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, is back in court today. Independent forensic experts are taking the stand in her appeal trial. They'll be cross examined by the prosecution after dropping a bombshell in court the experts testified the Italian team mishandled the case.

And I'll be back with you coming up at the top of the hour with more live news. But, right now, hand it over to the money folks.